Transgender actor Elliot Page said a scene in his new movie, Close to You, in theaters Friday, helped exorcise some of his frustrations dealing with transphobes in real life.

"It was almost cathartic because I deal with that provocation," Page, 37, told UPI in a recent Zoom interview. "For me, it was probably quite healing to be able to say my piece to him in the way that Sam does."

Close to You was improvised from a story by Page and director Dominic Savage. The particular scene dictated that Paul upset Sam.

Paul asks if he still can call Sam "Sammy." Sam says no because he goes by Sam now. Paul complains that he doesn't know the rules for speaking about Sam.

"He gets the answer, but that answer doesn't satisfy him," Page said. "My body went, 'I know what this guy is doing right now.'"

In real life, Page said, he avoids giving such provocateurs the satisfaction of indulging them. In Sam's case, he was stuck at his family's house with Paul.

After the scene, Page said the cast had a group hug. Reale also was kind to Page when he was not playing Paul, Page said.

"He's such a nice guy who plays such a good [expletive]," Page said. "Even just down to his little smirks and glares, I'm like, how are you so nice but so good at playing such a jerk?"

Other improvised scenes lead to positive dialogue in the film. When Sam has some time alone with his father, he shares how relieved he is that his son is finally happy after growing up with depression.

Savage said he selected actors who could bring life experiences to their roles. The director added that once the family began interacting in character, it inspired meaningful improvisations like Outerbridge's.

"I believe Peter was being very, very honest and genuine in what he was saying and what he was feeling," Savage said. "The actors felt very safe to be truthful about what they felt about life."

"He's there with a father who's really explaining how painful it was for him to see his son in that pain and the joy it gives him to see that Sam has found his way through that," Page said.

After the confrontation with Paul, Sam's brother, Michael (Daniel Maslany), expresses his pride in Sam for speaking up for himself.

"I wanted him to feel what he wanted to say at that point," Savage said. "It's something he felt very genuine about at that point."

While visiting his family, Sam sees his high school girlfriend Catherine (Hillary Baack). Catherine is now married with children, so she panics after their first meeting and breaks contact.

"Two huge loves in her life maybe were intersecting and she didn't know what to do about it," Baack said. "She was feeling so much seeing Sam."

Catherine encounters Sam again and decides to reconnect.

"She's just letting herself be present in that moment," Baack said. "I think she's just so happy to see Sam again. She's going with it."

Baack appeared in Page's 2013 film The East. When assembling the cast for Close to You, Page remembered her.

"Our friendship continued throughout the years and deepened," Page said. "We'd really been actively wanting to do something together again, especially because in The East, our characters had very little interaction."

Close to You comes out one week after Netflix premiered the final season of Page's series The Umbrella Academy. Page said Hollywood offers are rarer than they were pre-transition.

"We'll see what's going to happen in Hollywood with trans representation and trans men," Page said.

The Umbrella Academy wrote Page's transition into the show in its third season. Page said he would welcome playing more specifically trans characters like Sam.

"We have such little representation, I'm more than happy to be playing trans characters and absolutely to play cis characters, as well," Page said.